After a couple of close shaves this morning (2 x drivers pulling out of side roads in front of me) I figure that the time might be right for a new front light.

i need a front light which is bright enough to be seen by motorists who are half a sleep and can’t be arsed to wipe their side windows before setting off. I don’t need it for off road riding at all.

Commute is about 60 mins each way so has to be able to last at least an hour between charges.

My rear light is OK but if it was a front and rear light bundle that was recommended it would be OK.

What are you all using?

Ian

about 2000 lumens should do it 😉

one solid and one flashing catch their eyes – 2 do a much better job than one for getting you noticed.

seriously though 200/300 x 2 lumens is about dandy for the road – much more than your into blinding them territory.

http://www.stonehengecycles.com/product/9319/moon_xp500_shield_rear_light_set

Eighty five beer tokens. USB charging, with a wall plug and a two cables (One work, one home). Simple mount for the rear, fits almost anything. Front comes with both a bar and a helmet mount.

Front – 500 lumens, which is enough to light up a totally unlit country lane for normal cycling use. Can be used at three levels of brightness as well. Flashing setting is very good as well.

Rear – About as good as it gets, IMHO. On full beam, tilted slightly down, it lights up a massive patch of red behind you. Also available in epilepsy inducing strobe and silly bright flash mode.

Bargain.

exposure flash and flare set, love mine.

b&m iq cyo

If your commute is one hour, I’d say it has to last about 10 hours between charges before you get seriously f***ed off with charging it every day!

Flash and Joystick for the front

Moonshield for the back set on

epilepsy inducing strobe

and a Blackburn Mars 3 on my bag.

So far I’ve only have to charge the Moonshield once.

Another vote for flash and flare set here, rechargeable batteries last 8hrs, small and light and VERY bright.

buy cheap, buy twice.
that’s what I do.
two lights on the front, two on the back. tenner a piece.
one static, one flashing.
batteries last about a month.
expensive lights don’t make you any more visible.
if you want motorists to know you’re there, get a siren.

Until this year I used 2 cree torches on medium – bright enough for cars to think youre not a bike, whcih is half the problem – car driver sees bike and pulls out – I never had any one pull out on me

This year Ive got the ‘2000’ lumen light – not dark enough at the moment to measure effectiveness, but one thing Ive noticed already is that the lens’ are not out of the box waterproof – the seals are too thin – a bit of instant gasket and they are now…

I have a set of the recent Aldi lights permanently on my commute bike. They were six quid, if they still have them in stock. If the light or weather is a bit iffy, I switch them on.

In my bag, I carry a Cateye ‘opticube’ strap on front light, as that has a better spread of light, plus a TL-LD1100 ‘holy hand grenade’ rear light. These were about £40 for a set. The front is reasonably new because my original was on a bike that got stolen, but the rear light has lasted years now.

I like the Cateye lights as you can buy all sorts of mounts for them, so they can easily be moved between bikes or mounted on odd tubes.

My commute’s only 30 minutes a day but the batteries last a full ‘dark season’ without having to remember to charge them each night/week which would be a pain.

I’ve just bought Knog Blinders, front and rear as part of my commute is on unlit country lanes. They’ll need regular recharging but that’s easy with USB at work/home. Last year I used Cateyes and was going through AAA batteries too regularly for my liking. Although I still have them now as a backup.

By the way, for things like bike lights and in fact anything round the house using AA or AAA batteries, it’s well worth getting good rechargeables and a charger – I use Ansmann batteries which have very good capacity and last forever. You then don’t have the issue when the lights start to dim a bit of leaving them in as you don’t want to bin them too early, just keep them topped up all the time. Saves a fortune and less wasteful too.

I use a c&b seen up front and an exposure flare out back. I’ve been through most of the Cat eye range, cheap lights, expensive lights, all sorts really. But this is what works for me at the moment. My commute is on largely unlit tracks and occasionally the road when I step the front light down a bit to prevent the ‘dazzling’.

You could buy my light in motion 360 = £80 Posted?
Helmet mounted so very visible, lasts 3hrs on full power. But I’ve used it on flashing for a full week before charging. Also used it as a headlight for night rides.
USB charging using the universal USB phone standard cable.

I took the plunge and invested in a set of Lumicycles about 10y ago (halogen back then), and have never regretted it. Of course you can get a lot more lumen-hours for less money these days with LEDs. If you commute regularly, think of the savings compared to the alternatives.

I spent about 10y struggling with crap sidewall dynamos too. A decent hub dynamo might be worth considering.

I use a C&B Seen (1000lm) on the centre of the bars along with Knog Frogs flashing further out and a Joystick with a Beacon diffuser thing on my helmet. Also a red eye mini in the back of the Joystick and a flashing Cateye rear light on the frame. It seems a lot but I don’t want broken ribs again!

A couple of years ago I got knocked off by a car turning across the front of me and after speaking to the driver I realised that he was looking for something car-shaped which is why he didn’t see me, despite all the lights, so I use the Knogs to give me more a more recognisable or obvious ‘shape’.

Don’t forget about reflective stuff too – I use tape on my frame and the 3M things clipped on my spokes.

Just bought a Raleigh RSP 100 lumens jobbie for my son’s bike

Small, light and very, very bright. Cost about £16 I think.
Rear light is a DX Lezyne femto copy.

I don’t really care to remove batteries to charge, so for the front I have a Strada and a Joystick (when they were £55 at Wiggle.

But for cheapness I recommend a Cateye EL620 for £40. Charges from USB with standard micro USB cable as per Garmin. Exposures need specific cable or charger, which may be an issue when at work.

Cost about £16 I think

You could het 3,000+ Chinese lumens for that

I’ve got the now (im)famous “5,000 lumen” chinese jobbies – bought in a set with a rear one that is as okay as any other cheapish rear light. Off eBay from a UK seller, so delivered in a few days from order.

Generally running the front on “low” which seems to be visible (touch wood) to other road users. The flashing mode seems to be be at “high” though so I’m a bit concerned that if I use that once it starts getting proper dark (I’m generally commuting at dawn / dusk at the moment) it might be a bid of a blinder.

Still, a lot of lumens (however many that may actually be) for £30, and the supplied battery seems to be holding up okay thus far.

Cost about £16 I think
You could het 3,000+ Chinese lumens for that

i bought a set of Solarstorm X2 at the same time. figured it would be overkill for a 5-year old’s islabike for riding to school. He can borrow them at the weekend 🙂

Dynamo hub with a B+M Lumotec thingy here. Never looked back since going dynamo a couple of years ago. It’s bright (claimed 60lux, whatever that is in everyone’s favourite lumens), relatively cheap (wheel and light cost about £80) and does a bunch of other stuff too; switches on automatically when it gets dark (only if you want, since its idea of ‘dark’ is many people’s idea of ‘lovely sunny day’), decent standlight and never needs charging or new batteries.

flash and flare on blink mode here (as above, rechargeable batteries last well in excess of 8 hours per charge), along with a joystick and random other rear light.

Magicshine 808 set to low or if a retard come down the road with full beam on, then i switch to stobe setting, and a blackburn mars4 on the rear.

I have a set of the recent Aldi lights permanently on my commute bike. They were six quid, if they still have them in stock. If the light or weather is a bit iffy, I switch them on.

I bought two sets of them last year, the rubber straps on the mounts for both fronts perished and snapped within 2 months 🙁

I just got one of these, not rode with it in the dark dark yet, but its very, very bright and dinky

moon

My Lezyne light is giving up the ghost now so I bought two Smart Lux 7 lights from CR.

I need to be seen so both those should do it.

I have a Cree light off ebay for seeing as well.

The flashing mode seems to be be at “high” though so I’m a bit concerned that if I use that once it starts getting proper dark (I’m generally commuting at dawn / dusk at the moment) it might be a bid of a blinder.

Thank god we have someone on a bike with some brains

I’m quite impressed with the Leyzene SuperDrive XL I bought.

USB charging with a cable left plugged into my base station at work makes charging very easy.

Buying a second one because 500lm is fine one my 20 mile each way unlit commute, but I’m a belt and brace sort of guy when it comes to bike lights – always allow for one light failing and still have enough to get home.

I’ve also used it as a helmet light off-road (paired with a 3x XML-U2 from Torchy)

I’ve got a pair of them knog rubber lights for a fiver, they are good enough I reckon, although some bloke almost ran into the back of me the other day on an unlit section of the A55 – he had a right go at me as well a bit farther up, just because I had no reflective gear on and cheap lights. I just ignored him and shot off, its not my fault folk are driving at 70mph on an unlit section of the coast road…. <whistles> 😉

Dynamo hub setup is best for commuting I reckon. Fit and forget and plenty bright enough to see and be seen by.

I have a alfine hub and supernova e3 triple. It’s been faultless and so much easier not worrying about whether the batteries will last.

😀 @ bellefied…!

Thanks everyone, I shall have a trawl through your suggestions. Well, everyone except Bellefied!

Definitely go dynamo if you’re doing alot of commuting. It’s great not having to worry about charging or being caught out without lights etc.

I use a alfine dynamo and B&M Cyo up front and a Phillips Saferide at the back.

Dont think there are many bad lights out there any more, plenty to choose from

I’ve used exposure flash and flare for a couple of years, brilliant. The front light is not quite bright enough if you ride on unlit roads on any part of your commute.

So I picked up a lezyne macro drive for road riding and have the smaller flash on blink mode.